Maestro Ricardo Averbach, of Oxford, OH, has won The American Prize in Conducting in the college/university orchestra division, one of several conducting award-winners to be announced this week.

Ricardo Averbach, DMA is Director of Orchestral Studies at Miami University and President of the College Orchestra Directors Association, Northeast Division. Previously he was Music Director of the Echternach Festival Orchestra in Luxembourg, the University of Pennsylvania Symphony Orchestra and Wind Ensemble and the São Paulo Municipal Symphony Orchestra in Brazil. His discography includes several world premiere recordings, which have already sold more than half a million copies around the globe.

Founded in 2009, The American Prize is a series of new, non-profit, national competitions, designed to recognize and reward the best in the performing arts in the United States. Founded on the belief that a great deal of excellent music being made in the U.S. goes unrecognized and unheralded, the organization seeks to fill the gap that leaves excellent artists and ensembles struggling for visibility and viability.

Winners receive cash prizes, professional adjudication and regional, national and international recognition based on submitted recordings of their performances. In addition to monetary rewards and commentary from judges, winners are profiled on The American Prize website, with video and audio links to winning performances.

David Katz is the chief judge of competitions. Professional conductor, award-winning composer, playwright, actor and arts advocate, Katz was the founder and for twelve years chief judge of the Friedrich Schorr Memorial Performance Prize in Voice international competition. Joining Katz in selecting winners is a panel of judges made up of distinguished musicians representing every region of the country and including choral and orchestral conductors of professional, school, community and faith-based ensembles, tenured professors and orchestra and choral musicians.

Additional competitions in 2010 have recently been announced for wind ensembles, concert bands, opera and music theater companies and their conductors, for pianists, vocalists and composers.

The American Prize is administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit performing arts organization based in Danbury, Connecticut.